Annunciator



W. T. DIPPEL.

ANNUNCIATOB.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 2.1, 1919.

Patented May 16, 119220 IAEGEQQB INVENTOR.

WITNESS:

UNHTED stares PATENT estates.

' WILLIAIVI'T. DIPIPEL, OF NEW YO'RKTNJ Y.

ANNUNCIATO'R.

Specifrdation of Letters Patent. Patqgni'tgdl Mary jlfi, 11922.,

Application filed May 27, 1919. Serial No. 300,049.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, WILLIAM TQDIP EL, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of New York, in the borough of Manhattan and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Annunciators, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to annunciators, the object being to provide a system whereby calls can be promptly sent from one location to another by means of simple apparatus and devices, conveniently manipulated and easy to install.

The invention comprises generally a sending? mechanism and a signal display or receiving mechanism connected in a circuit supplied with intermittent currents, the sending device being adapted to be set at a selected position and movable under the current impulses to a normal position while the signal display device is adapted to be moved from a normal to'the selected position simultaneously by the same current impulses. The invention also comprises certain structures and circuits utilized for carrying out the broad idea, all of which will be fully described hereinafter and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a diagram of the circuits and a conventional representation of the apparatus comprised in the complete system Figure 2 is a front elevation of the casing of the signal display mechanism;

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the casing of the signal sending mechanism; and

Figure 4: is a detail of a controlling switch. I v p The annunciator-system herein described has been designed especially for use onthe floor of a stock exchange or in any other place where persons congregate who are subject to be called temporarily from their immediate business and whenit is desired that such calls shall be promptly given or displayed. The apparatus comprises an annunciator proper consisting of a boX or frame having windows or spaces in which figures, letters, names or symbols intended for the interested persons are displayed, the box being located in some prominent position where it may be easily observed by any persons. in its vicinity. The annunciator is connected by suitable circuits with a sending apparatus located at a telephone station, trading post or other suitable central point.

The sending apparatus comprises a disk or drum 1 mounted to rotate upon a stationary shaft v 2 and having a spiral spring 3 connected at one, end to the shaft and at the other end to the disk andhaving a constant tendency to turn the disk in one direction. On an internal annular shoulder of this'disk are formed two ratchet segments 5 and 6 which are engaged by .pawls 7 and 8 respecT tively, carried by an oscillating bar 9 pivoted to the frame, these devices constituting an ordinary escapement, the oscillation of which permits the disk to rotate step by step under the impetus of the spring 3. 'The oscillating bar 9 is provided with or constitutes an armature for an electro-magnet 10 adapted to actuate the bar in one direction, a spring 9 moving it in the other direction. On the face of the disk there is provided an insulating segment or tooth 11 which is normally engaged by a stationary contact brush 12 in order to insulate the brush fromthedisk. The disk is provided with a handle 13 by which it may be grotated by hand and thereby store power in the spring to be subsequently used to return the disk to its normal position under the control of the escapement. The disk is mounted in a casing or frame 14 provided with a slot 15 through which the handle 13 projects,

Alongside the slot is placed a series of figures, letters, names or other symbols corresponding to the signals to be displayed by the apparatus. The handle is movable to any signal position by hand and is there held by the engagement of the escapement with the ratchet teeth until the oscillation of the escapement permits the handle to return. Associated with the handle 13 is an indicating arm 15 which ispivoted to the upper endv of an armaturelever lti, the latter being pivoted to the frame and mounted. so t t the pivotal point ofthe arm-- 15' will be substantially co-axial with the disk L Arm 15 is impelled upward by a spring 17 while the armature lever 16 is i111 pelled towards the front of the casing by a spring 18. The. forward end of the arm 15' is split to form two fingers 19 and 20, the former being pointed and adapted to en gage with anyone of a series of notches 21 formed in the back of the face plate of the casing adjacent to the slot through which the handle 13 plays, this engagement serving to end of the slot and having a stroke through the entire length thereof.

hold the arm stationary agamst the action of its spring 17. The other finger of the arm projects through the same slot as the handle 13 and is bent laterally and formed with an index which points to the numerals or other signal insignla adjacent to the slot.

.The handle 13 carries a bent. finger 22which extends across the top of the arm 15 and acts as a hook to carry the arm downward through the slot in company with the handle 13. When the handle returns to its normal position, the arm 15 remains i n the position previously occupied by the handle, being held at that position by the engagement of the finger 19 with a notch 21. 23 is an 'electro-magnet mounted in a position to attract the armature lever 16 and pull it rearward. This serves to release the finger 19 from its notch 21 whereupon spring 17 returns the arm 15' quickly to its normal position at'the upper end of the slot, where it which may be continued from 9 upward on the successive slots. v

The slgnal displaying apparatus is only conventionally. shown, and comprisesa cas-' ing 24 having in its front wall one or more windows 25 depending upon the capacity of the instrument and behind each window is mounted upon a horizontal axis a drum 26- within-which is a spring 27 secured to the drum and to its shaft. Upon the shaft of the drum is a toothed wheel 28 adapted to be engaged by a pawl 29' which is reciprocated by an armature lever 30'to which it is pivoted at 31.. The armature lever is under the infiuence of an electro-magnet 32 and a spring 33 and is adapted to play under these influences between two limiting stops, as shown. The pawl normally rests upon the pm 34 WlllCll holds it out of engagement with the teeth of the wheel 28. On a forward movement of the pawl an inclined surface 35 permits it to fall and engage a tooth of the'wheel to force the latter around the space of one tooth. On the opposite side at the wheel a second pawl 36 is mounted, bemg pivotedat 37 and with its point normally held in engagement with the'wheel- 28 by a spring 38. This pawl prevents the return of the wheel 28 after it has been moved forward by the pawl 29. Paw'l 36 is under the lnfiuence of an elec-tro-magnet 39, the func tion of which is to swing the pawl out of engagement with wheel 28 as indicated in dotted lines. 40 is another electro-magnet whose armature1'41 has a hooked end 42 which normally rests against the end of an arm 43 projecting from the pawl 36, being impelled against said arm by a spring 44. When the pawl 36 assumes the position shown in dotted lines, the hook 42 drops in front of the arm .43 as also indicated in dotted lines, and prevents the return of pawl 36 to its normal engagement with the wheel 28. However, upon magnet 40 being therecurrent, and 48 indicates a commutator or' other continuously moving circuit controller upon which bears a contact brush 61. 50 isa switch lever pivoted at the center and being adapted to be oscillated by either of two plungers 51, 52. When the plunger 51 is forced downwardto the lim't of its stroke, fingen 53 closes the contacts 54' and holds them closed until the position of the lever is changed. When the plunger 52 forced downward, the contacts 55 are,momentar1ly closed by the movement of the arm 56 past them an at the same time the contacts 54 are opened. When plunger 52 rises, ar m 56 does not actuate the contacts 55, because of a mechanical arrangement provided to pregaging one of the contacts 55. In the down wardmovement, the arm passes beyond a spring tongue 58 which, on the upward movement, deflacts the arm through the shunting groove 59. r

The circuits will be described'in connection with the description of the operation.

Let it be assumed that it is desired to display the Figure 5 on the annunciator, 1t belng understood that the figure is merely representative of'a persons name of other signal to be displayed. A person in charge of the transmitter will pull the handle 13 downward until it arrives opposite the Figure 5. In this'movement the indicator 15 accompanies the handle and is held stationary at 5 by the engagement of finger 19 with the notch 21 at that point. the handle 13 and disk 1 being meanwhile held by the escapement. Next, the operator pushes the plunger 51 downward, thus closing the contacts 54. v This establishes a circuit from the battery by wire 60, commutator 48, brush 61, wire 62, contacts 54, wire 63 to the frame of the instrument,-thence by brush 12 which is 139) r the disk, by wire 64, magnet 10, wirev 65,

magnet 32 of the signal displaying device,

I wire 66 andwire 67 to battery. So long as opens the circuit.

this circuit remains closed, an intermittent current will flow through the magnet '10 of the transmitter and the magnet 32 of the signal displaying device. Each impulse of current will actuate the escapement lever 9 and the'pawl 29,cau:sing the disk 1 and the drum 26 to simultaneously move step by step, the disk moving towards its normal position and the drum moving towards a signal position. Both magnets will receive impulses at the same time and when the handle 13 has reached its normalposition, the drum 26 will have been forced forward a 1 corresponding distance and will display in reaches its normal position, the brush 12 rides upon the insulating segment 11 and Pawl 29 of the annunciator ceases to act and the drum 26 is held tacts 55 establishing a new circuit as follows: from battery by wire 68, contacts 55, wire 69, magnet 23, wire 70, magnet 39, wire .71 aild wire 67 tobattery. The energizing of magnet 23 causes'the return of the indicator 15' to normal position, as before explained, and the energizing of magnet 39 removes the pawl-36 from engagement with wheel 28 and allows the spring 27 to return the signal displaying drum 26 to -"its normal position. 'The pawl 36 must beheld out of engagement with the wheel 28 long enough to permit the drum to complete its return movement, which at one time may be a longer travel than at another." Conse quently the momentary operation of magnet 39 permits the hook" 42 to lock 36 out of engagement with the toothed wheel until the drum has fully completed its return movement except for a very short distance, at which point the pin 45 momentarily closes the contacts 46 and establishesa circuit through the magnet 40. as can be easily traced, to remove the hook and allow the pawl 36130 resufine its operative position in connection with the wheel 28 for the next operation of the signal. p

It should have been statedbefore that numbers or, other signals corresponding to those'on the front plate of the transmitter are placed upon the periphery of the drum 26 to be displayed through the windows in the front of the annunciator which are of a proper size to display one signal at a time. Y

I'claim:

1. An annunciator system comprising in combination a signal displaying: member movable step by step from a normal position to any one of a plurality of signal positions, a manually operable signal selecting member movable step by step from any one of a plurality of selected positions to which it has been manually moved to a normal position, electro-magnetic devices responsive to intermittent current for effecting the simultaneous movement of said members, a circuit controller for causing an intermittent current and operable independently of the movement of the selecting and display members, a source of current, a circuit including the said devices, circuit controller and source of current, a circuit controlling device included in said circuit and efiective to close the circuit automatically by the movement of the selecting member away from normal position and open the circuit when the selecting member is inits normal position, and a manually operated switch also in said circuit for directly connecting the circuitously with the return of the signal displaying member to normal position.

3. An annunciator system comprising in combination two rotary drums, a source of power tending to rotate eachdrum in one direction, an escapment permitting one drum to make a step by step movement, means for rotating the other drum against its source of power, electromagnetic devices for actuv ating said escapement and said means, and a circuit including a source of intermittent current and said electromagnetic devices, I

4. An annunciator system comprising a signal displaying rotary member, a spring tending to rotate said member in one direction,v means for rotating the member step by step to a signalling position against the power of said spring, a detent co-operatlng with the member for-holding it at any position to which it may be moved, an electromagnet for removing the detent from operative engagement with the member and another electro-magnet for restoring the de-, tent to operative position.

5. An annunciator system comprising a signal displaying rotory member, a spring tending to rotate said member in one direcand controlled by the movement of displaced therefrom,

tion, means for rotating the member step by to a signalling position against the step power of said spring, a detent cooperating with the member for holding it at anyposltion to which it may be moved, an electromagnet for removing the detent from oper-- ative engagement with the member, an-

other electro-magnet for restoring the detent to operative position, and an electric circuit including saidlast named magnet ,said

member. s

6. In an annunciator system the combinaagainst theaction of the spring'to anyone of a plurality of different positions, an escapement for permitting aStep by step return movement of the disc, an indicating member shiftable with said disc to an indicating position when the disc is shifted against the action of its spring, means for pivotally supporting the indicating member and for latching it in indicating position when so placed by the operation of the disc, a spring normally tending to rotate said indicating member to initial position where it is ready to be shifted with the disc, a source of intermittent current,- electromagneticdevices responsive to said current for operating said I display device to display position and said escap ement toallow the disc 'p to return to normal position, and manually controlled means for simultaneously unlatching said indicating member, and cans-V ing a resetting of the display device.

7 In an annunciator system,the combination of a signal display device, means normally tending to return the device to nondisplay position, asignal determining de vice manually operable to selected positions, a

means normally tending to return said determining device to initial position when of said devices in displaced positions, a

source of intermittent current, electrical devices controlled by said intermittent current for permitting the return of the determining devlce to initial position and for simultaneously shifting said display device from the initial position to a display position corre sponding tothe adjusted position of the determining device, holding means for retaining the display device in said particular display position to which it has been shifted, a manually operated device adapted when in one position to connect said source of intermittent current to said electrical devices and when shifted to another position to release the display device from its holding means.

8. In an annunciator system, the combinameans for holding each.

shifted, means including vices controlled by the tion with a signal determining device shiftable manually from an initial to selected positions in each of which selected positions it corresponds to a signal to be given, a signaldisplay device located, at a distance from the determining device and adapted to be shifted from an initial to selected positions corresponding with those of the determining device, devices to initial position when displaced from that position, operating means when active for permitting return of the determining devlce to initial position from any adjusted position and simultaneously shifting said display device toa position corresponding with the said adjusted position, holding means for retaining the display device in display positions, operating means when active for releasing means, and a manually controlled device for alternately determining the activity of both of the said operating means. 7 4

9. In an annunciator system, a source of intermittent current, a spring connected to said device, to return the same to an initial position when released,

means connected to said source of current forshiftingsaid device away from its initial position vagainst the action of its spring, means" for controlling the number ofcurrent impulses, to advance the device to a plurality of adjusted positions, v for.retaining the device in said adjusted ositions, means for incapacitating' said holding means, locking means for retaining vsaid holding means in incapacitated condition, means for controlling said incapacitating means and means controlled .by said display devlce for causing said locking means to release thefdisplay holding means when the display device has substantially resumed its initial position.

110. In an annunciator system the combinameans tending to return both of said- I said holding;

display device, a

holding means tion of a display device, a spring for returning the same toan initial position when free ;to' act, means for retalning the device in adjusted positions, a'signal determining device having a member adjustable to selective positions for deterniining the signal tobe displayed, an indicating member shiftableby v the selected positions, means for retaining said indicating member in the positions to which it has been electromagnetic dedetermining device and operating said display device} to adjusted position, manually said adjustable member to ture.

LLIAM T, DIPPEL.

controlled means for: simultaneously releaslng the indicatlng mem- I and a sprmg for 

